Short Summary

Three-and-a-half years ago Seattle was an economic disaster area. Unemployment was more than 15 percent.?

Description

Three-and-a-half years ago Seattle was an economic disaster area. Unemployment was more than 15 percent. The running gag was: "Would the last person to leave Seattle please turn out the lights." Well, there's no need to do that now; Unemployment is down to 6-point-8 percent...and that's below the National Average.

(Girl walks by: camera zooms to 747 model in store window) Much of the bad news or good news of depends on the fortunes of the Boeing Corporation...which accounts for one out of every five jobs in the Seattle area.

Right now there are 54-thousand employed at Boeing. In 1971, after Congress killed the Supersonic Transport, employment his an all time low of 38-thousand. Boeing remembers that...and, despite improved sales now, its reluctant to say its troubles are over: SOF STANIEY LITTLE (BOEING VICE-PRESIDENT) "We think its going to be stable at least for the first 3 quarters of 1975. Beyond that time we'll have to wait and see what happens with respect to energy..with respect to what happens with the economy of the world."
The world is pretty important to Boeing... 70 percent of its sales now are to foreign airlines...and the big seller is the medium-range 727, not the long-range, fuel-hungry 747.

Seattle's resurgence than Boeing Its port facility has become the third largest on the West Coast...and its number one for handling shipments to Alaska...shipments that have increased tenfold since pipeline construction began...

Adding to all this is the fact that Seattle has been enjoying a "good press" lately: Last month, Harpers Magazine called it the most liveable city in the country.

A liveable place to work...

(CU droplets on tree... pullout to housing) And, in terms of costs, a reasonable place to live.